The phrase “salary dump” is certainly nothing new to Atlanta Braves fans of recent vintage.
The Braves engaged in a number of payroll-shedding trades during the 2014-17 rebuild, getting rid of such players as Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, B.J. Upton, Chris Johnson and Craig Kimbrel because they were either too expensive or soon to become so. Many of those moves netted a strong prospect haul, but others were done strictly to pare down the payroll in the interest of future “financial flexibility.”
However, there was a time when the Braves ran one of the highest payrolls in the sport.